GW Driver: Address Book and External Users

Problem

A Forum reader asked the following question:

"I am using the GroupWise driver within a solution where there is the concept of internal and external users. For internal users the driver needs to create a mailbox which I believe is standard functionality within the driver.

For external users the requirement is for an entry to be added to the global address book. The user does not however need a mailbox. Is this possible, or is there some workaround to achieve the goal of an entry being created within the address book?"

And here's the response from Perry Nuffer ...

Solution

I believe this is possible with the current shipping driver. A driver policy must be created to manage this, and there is limited documentation in the implementation guide.

1. Create a non-GroupWise domain with ConsoleOne.

2. Create an external Post Office in that non-GroupWise domain. This can be done with ConsoleOne. This is where the users without mailboxes will be synchronized.

3. When a User is created in eDir that should not have a mailbox, utilize policy to add the xml attribute 'gw:classification="external"' to the <add> event. This can typically be done in a placement rule, where the user is also 'placed' in the appropriate non-GroupWise domain and external GW Post Office.

Example

Here is a sample placement rule that can get you started (showing one way to accomplish the task). You will need to modify it to fit the business needs of your system. Using the rule below, the policy element will need to include a "gw" name space declaration like this: